


Secrets

by Buffintruda



Series: Revealing Camelot [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Episode: s04e07 The Secret Sharer, Gen, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-12 23:44:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9095854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buffintruda/pseuds/Buffintruda
Summary: Gwaine carries many secrets, some about himself and some about others. For instance, his ancestry and knowledge of Merlin’s magic. In which hidden things are uncovered and Morgana is behind all of it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in an au where everything is pretty much the same except it’s in the modern world. Because of the existence of magic, it’s not the same as our world, but there is electricity and the internet and phones.  
> In this universe, the equivalent events to the Servant of Two Masters just happened, which is that episode where Morgana takes over Merlin’s mind so he tries to kill Arthur. At this point, Arthur knows that there’s a traitor close to him, and Agravaine is pointing him towards Gaius. Morgana has just had her first meeting with Emrys, who she knows will be her downfall, and is desperate to find Emrys’s identity. A lot of the events in the Secret Sharer happen in this story, but they’re mostly explained.

Gwaine ducked, barely avoiding the giant tail swinging towards him. Avoiding the debris on the floor, he ran to his right. If he could get in front of the creature, he could fire into its eyes or mouth, and maybe find a weak spot, somewhere that bullets could get through its thick skin and stop the creature’s destructive rampage. It turned with him, chasing one of the younger knights, and Gwaine looked up just in time to see the creature’s tail knock down a bit of the wall far above him. There was no time to move out of the way. But instead of falling straight down, the chunks of stone swerved right, missing Gwaine completely. He looked forward and, unsurprisingly, saw Merlin turning away from his direction. How no one else had noticed all the convenient ‘accidents’ that always happened around Merlin, Gwaine did not know. 

But there was no time to dwell on that. Gwaine charged forward, firing his gun. This was pointless, he knew, though he hoped otherwise. The creature, with some strange, difficult to remember name, was undefeatable by any ordinary means, according to Gaius. But there was no other option except to try. Besides, the bullets managed to distract it long enough to save Leon from being trampled on, which wasn’t nothing.

The palace bedroom where the knights had managed to corner it was in chaos. Bits of torn sheets and furniture were everywhere, scattered among the rubble. The creature was only barely contained, and it was clear that this would not last much longer.

The creature’s tail smacked the room again, this time on the ceiling, as it lunged at Arthur, who dove out of the way just in time. 

“Look out!” Elyan cried. The ceiling was beginning to crumble, collapsing on top of the creature. The knights scrambled out of the room. Gwaine glanced at Merlin again. The ceiling, while weakened from the battle below, hadn’t seemed so fragile a few moments before. And it was interesting how it was only the ceiling inside of the room that was affected, while on the other side of the doorway, there was not even a crack.

The knights cautiously gathered around the remains of the room. There was no sign of life within. After a few minutes of nothing, Arthur directed a couple of them to clear away the rubble. The rest watched, alert, ready to shoot if the need arose. 

After the stone covering the creature’s head was lifted, the knights froze, waiting for it to strike back. Nothing happened. They waited some more, and still the creature did not move. It’s eyes were closed and it gave no signs of breathing, but with such an unknown beast, they didn’t know if that meant anything. Cautiously, they removed more stones on top of it, revealing that one of the larger stones had pierced its heart, killing it.

“How did that happen?” Bors asked.

“It must have been luck,” Arthur said. “Leon, call Gaius and tell him to come here.”

The rest of the knights stood around the creature muttering amongst themselves, watching it as if it might spring back to life at any moment. Gwaine listened to them for a bit before turning to Merlin.

“Strange how a rock can go through skin that bullets don’t even nick,” he said.

“What? Um, yeah. Very odd. I guess it was luck, like Arthur said.”

“We seem to be very lucky a lot.”

“Yes we do,” Merlin said. 

It suddenly struck Gwaine as incredibly unfair that so many of Merlin’s accomplishments were credited to luck, even if it was the safest option. In one of the only countries where merely having magic was punishable by death, Merlin could never receive the praise he deserved, though Gwaine knew that he would never ask for it.

Only a few days before, when he joined Arthur on his search for Merlin, who they thought could be dead, Gwaine spent the better part of two hours rambling about the best qualities of Merlin. In part, it was to distract Arthur (and himself) from his worry, but in a way, to commemorate Merlin, in case he  _ was  _ dead. He could never speak about the extent of Merlin’s bravery and self-sacrifice without revealing Merlin’s magic, but the characteristics of Merlin, whether as Arthur’s manservant or a powerful sorcerer, were the same. And though Gwaine could never just tell Merlin everything he admired about him, he did want Merlin to know some of that.

Across the room, Gaius had arrived, walking towards Merlin. Feeling a little impulsive, Gwaine said: “Anyway, thanks.” Thanks for saving me back there, for saving all of us. Thanks for risking everything just to do that. Thanks for doing it over and over again.

“For what?” Merlin asked, smiling in an adorably confused manner.

Gwaine opened his mouth as if to answer, just in time for Gaius to appear.

“Merlin!”

Merlin looked up at Gaius. “Sorry, I have to go,” he said as he rushed to the creature’s side with Gaius.

* * *

Agravaine knocked on the door to King Arthur’s office.

“Come in,” Arthur called out.

Agravaine did, standing across the desk from Arthur, his hands folded behind his back. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

“Yes. Please sit. It’s about the—the monster, I forget what it’s called.”

“Sir?”

“We had no warning when it entered the palace. It should have set off a dozen alarms but there was nothing. We only found it after it destroyed a few rooms. Someone let it in.”

“You think we were sabotaged? Perhaps it was the traitor.”

“Only a very trusted few, including you, Gaius, and my closest knights, could be capable of doing something like that.” Merlin and Gwen probably could too, but Arthur couldn’t even consider the possibility that they would keep major secrets from him.

“Do you have any idea who it might be?”

“I am nearly certain it is not any of my knights. They wouldn’t have had a chance to betray me before, when the bandits attacked. It’s unlikely that there are multiple traitors, one for the first time, and another for this one.”

“I have suggested Gaius before,” Agravaine murmured.

“Gaius is an old friend. I trust him. He has saved us all many times.”

“It is difficult to believe he would do such a thing. Yet he has a history of practicing magic, does he not? He told you where to find the sorcerer that killed your father. And we know that he has knowledge of the beast.”

“But that knowledge was incorrect. We defeated it without the use of magic. What reason would he have to lie? Or tell us the information in the first place? It would make him seem more suspicious.”

“But if giving that information makes him seem less likely to be the traitor, it is possible that that is the reason why he gave it. Gaius is intelligent enough to double-bluff. Perhaps he gave you the incorrect information to frighten you. So you would give up sooner.”

Arthur frowned. “He would know that has never worked in the past.”

“He may have been mistaken.”

“I trust Gaius, and can’t believe he would do something like this.”

“Then it wouldn’t hurt to question him. Just as a precaution,” Agravaine said smoothly.

“I will take your suspicions into consideration, but I don’t think it was him. We can ask him your questions tomorrow. But in the meantime, go to Sir Geoffrey and tell him to do thorough background checks on everyone on this list here. I hadn’t done this before because all of those people have personally given me great reasons to trust them, but perhaps that was a mistake.”

“Yes, sir.” Agravaine bowed, taking the paper and exiting the room. Once he was a safe distance away from anybody who could overhear him, he pulled out his phone, enchanted by Morgana to be safe from being tapped.

“Yes?” she answered.

“My lady, the plan has failed. It was somehow killed by a falling ceiling.”

“Mere rock could not have killed it,” Morgana hissed. “It has to be the work of Emrys.”

“The plan concerning him is going better, my lady. I have used this event to make Arthur even more suspicious of Gaius. His trust in the old physician is weakening. We are set to question him tomorrow about his involvement in magic. I will ask him about Emrys, but if that fails...”

“Good. I have found someone who could get the information about Emrys from him in more... unconventional ways. Don’t let your side of the plan fail.”

“Of course, my lady,” Agravaine said, but she had already hung up.

* * *

 

The next day, Gwaine dropped by Arthur’s office to ask him what they were supposed to do with the beast’s corpse, now that it had been fully examined by Gaius. Instead, he found Merlin doing the king’s paperwork.

“Doesn’t he have a secretary to do all of that for him?” Gwaine asked.

“Oh, hi, Gwaine,” Merlin said. “Yeah, he does, but some of this stuff is supposed to be done by only Arthur himself, so of course I get to do it. I know pretty much everything he does, so he can get away with making me do it sometimes.”

“Do you regularly do the king’s duties for him?”

“Only right after we have an emotional moment.” Merlin finally looked up at him, grinning. “Not that it was as much of one for him, but still.”

“Oh?” Gwaine asked, leaning against the desk. “What happened?”

“Arthur was discussing Morgana with one of his advisors. I was standing in the background in case I was needed for something, as I often do. They were talking about measures to take against her, and if there was any of way of convincing her to stop, so they started talking about her motivations, and that kind of lead to a list of everything from before that pointed to her betrayal. Morgause’s influence during Morgana’s kidnapping, her stubbornness and clashing with Uther over policy and magic, the way she sometimes talked about a dream or bad feeling that ended up being true, that kind of thing.

“The advisor said something about how she never wanted to date, always immediately turned down suitors, and how some of her worst disagreements with Uther were over arranging some kind of beneficial marriage with someone. It was so bad he gave up on that, apparently, since she wasn’t his heir or anything so it didn’t matter much. She didn’t even show interest in dating girls. It was all about how of course she was evil, if she never loved anyone; she was barely even human. I think he tried courting her at some point, but she kept turning him down, eventually humiliating him publicly when he didn’t stop?

“Arthur just glared at him coldly, and asked him, ‘how does lack of romance equate to evilness?’ Because there’s lots of terrible people who fall in love, and many good people who don’t, and love can be the driving factor of many awful deeds. He accused the advisor of being sore that she never liked him back and said that some people don’t fall in love or have interest in dating, and that’s fine. It was really great. Arthur didn’t look at me or anything, but it still kind of felt like it was about me.

“So once the guy left, all upset, I told him, ‘thanks,’ and he just rolled his eyes and told me to do some of this urgent paperwork because he needed to meet with Geoffrey of Monmouth. I think that means he’s really accepted me?”

“It took him long enough,” Gwaine said, but he was grinning, sharing some of Merlin’s joy, and he clapped him on the back in celebration. It was good that someone Merlin loved so much seemed to fully accept and support him as aromantic.

After Merlin had come out to Gwaine, they started talking more about their orientations. It started out slow, as almost hesitant remarks along the lines of “Romantic attraction doesn’t make any sense,” or “It’s so hard to tell sometimes when people are flirting with me” or “It’s annoying how Bors keeps saying I would be happier if I had a more permanent relationship with any of the people I sleep with.” Each time it was almost a question, as if wondering ‘Is this something you share with me? Is this something you’re okay with talking about?’ 

Until eventually, somehow, they had once gotten into a deep discussion. And things went smoother from there. Jokes were made, to the confusion of the others, sly glances were shared when anyone said something that sounded funny under the context of their aroaceness, and more conversations went on.

Merlin had told Gwaine about the others’ reactions to him saying he was aromantic, and though Gwaine was far from happy about Arthur’s, he was unsurprised. He had gotten similar ones many times. It was good to know that Arthur was one of the ones who came around and truly did believe Merlin, instead of just half-heartedly pretending to. Merlin deserved the best from people he loved.

“Better than never,” Merlin said, still looking relieved that it had not been ‘never.’

“That is true. Even now, my half-brother, Gaheris, doesn’t believe me, and I gave him the simplified version. We weren’t very close, but still.”

“I didn’t know you had siblings,” Merlin said

Gwaine shrugged. Even with Merlin, who knew his secret ancestry, he didn’t talk much about his family.

“Gwaine.” Arthur’s voice crackled from the radio that Gwaine wore on his belt. “I need you to come to the meeting room.”

He lifted it and pushed the response button. “I’ll be there in a minute,” Gwaine promised, puzzled at the stern tone Arthur used.

“What did you do this time?” Merlin joked as he followed Gwaine into the hallway. Though Merlin hadn’t been ordered to come, both of them knew that if he showed up anyway, he would not be unwelcome.

“I can’t imagine,” Gwaine said, and though he said it as if in jest, it was the truth.

At Arthur’s meeting room, the smaller one for more private discussions, all the other head knights were already there. Elyan, Leon, Percival, and Arthur were seated around a circular table, the kind the king was so fond of. It couldn’t have been something he did wrong if all of them were there. Arthur wouldn’t gather everyone just to call him out on something, though this only created more questions. Judging from the others’ vaguely confused expressions, they didn’t know the purpose of this meeting either. Gwaine chose the chair across from Arthur.

“What is this all about?” he asked, smiling uncertainly.

“You,” Arthur said, his serious tone lowering the mood of the room. “You all know how we were ambushed a few days earlier when we went on a route that few knew about. And yesterday when that creature got into the castle, it did so without setting off any of the alarms. All security records of how it could have been done were wiped. Both of those things could only have happened with help from the inside.”

“You don’t think that I...?” Gwaine started.

“Gwaine is no traitor!” Percival declared, as the others nodded.

“No,” Arthur agreed. “Or at least, I don’t have any information pointing towards that conclusion, though the traitor is still unfound. But I had Geoffrey of Monmouth do some thorough background checks on everybody who could possibly be a suspect, just in case. Now, everybody who is hired to work for me is screened, but all the people at the top, who would have had the clearance and knowledge to betray me as they did, have earned my trust through other ways, and few of them have been extensively checked. Especially since in the past, knights could only come from noble families and were already known, so many new knights traditionally aren’t thoroughly checked.”

Any relief Gwaine had felt at not being thought traitor slowly vanished, replaced by a growing dread. Some of it must have shown on his face, because Elyan shot him a vaguely concerned look.

“What we found for yours, Gwaine, was quite interesting,” Arthur said expressionlessly.

“Oh?” Gwaine asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Some of parts of your records are hidden. It’s done very well, and before, we assumed they weren’t important, just a byproduct of you errant days. But we looked harder, and found out your real identity, that you, for some reason, neglected to tell us, Gawain, son of Tristan de Bois.”

“You’re a noble?” Percival gasped, almost mock-offended.

“You’re related to Arthur!” Merlin exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Gwaine said reluctantly.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Elyan asked.

“What? That my name at birth was Gawain? You never asked. Gwaine was a nickname, you know? And I got used to it so I kept it. I never claimed it was my legal name,” he said, pretending to not know what Elyan was really asking.

“You have noble blood,” Leon said. “King Uther could have made you knight all those years ago.”

“I’m not a noble,” Gwaine said. “I wasn’t raised like one, and I spent most of my life hating them.”

“But why?” Arthur asked, his tone revealing his true motivations for this meeting. Arthur was angry at Gwaine for not telling him in a way that could only come from some amount of hurt and betrayal. Gwaine couldn’t know the exact reason why, his connection to Arthur’s mother perhaps, or just his keeping secrets, but it was undeniable.

But Gwaine was in no mood to indulge in Arthur’s self-centered display. He was not obligated to tell anyone every personal detail. So he put the truth into blunt words:

“Where do I start? They’re so snobby and self-important. Not to mention elitist and bigoted. They wouldn’t offer any help to my mother once my dad died. As his wife, she should have inherited some of his money. But the Duke of Cornwall, my dad’s uncle, I think, twisted the law so she got none of it and almost took me away from her. They hated that my dad married her because she was a commoner, and probably because they were racist, though of course they wouldn’t admit that outright. They didn’t make her life easy in any other way either. I’ve never forgiven them for that. And my history with nobles didn’t improve from there. I don’t want to claim that title, I don’t want to be like them. They probably don’t want to claim me either, what with my coarse behavior and half-commoner status.

“If I’d taken Uther’s offer, I wouldn’t have fit in, and I wouldn’t have wanted to. I’m not a noble at heart. I’ve never met one worth liking. Present company excepted,” Gwaine said, shooting a glance at Leon and Arthur because maybe he was being a little too harsh. The offended look on both their faces lessened. “Merlin had a really high opinion of you, Arthur. And he convinced me to let you prove yourself good in my eyes. I thought that maybe after you were king, things might change and I could really be a knight under my own terms. And I was right, wasn’t I? It was worth the wait. I don’t want to be judged by my ‘noble blood,’ just on my own merits.”

“But Tristan de Bois of Cornwall,” Leon said. “That’s Arthur’s uncle. The one that tried to kill King Uther.”

“Yeah. I didn’t know much about him until after the first time I came to Camelot. When I came back here for good, I thought it wasn’t really something to mention. I still wanted to keep the noble thing a secret, plus it’s not something to brag about. ‘Hey, my dad tried to kill the former king. Twice. Let me join your knights?’”

“I don’t judge people on their parents,” Arthur said. “You know that. And you’ve proven yourself to be worthy of my trust many times. You should have told me. We’re family.”

Gwaine shrugged. “It still didn’t seem worth mentioning. I didn’t want people to know my heritage. Still don’t.”

“It doesn’t matter either way for you, if it’s kept a secret, does it?” Merlin said, looking at Arthur. “He’s a knight of Camelot, which is the only benefit of having noble blood that he cares about, so if he wants to keep it a secret, there’s no reason to not.”

“You don’t have to tell me what to do, Merlin,” Arthur sighed. “If that is what you want, this information won’t leave this room without permission, unless necessary for the safety of the kingdom.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Gwaine said. “Though I can’t see why you would need to tell someone to save Camelot.”

“A lot of strange things come back to bite us,” Arthur said.

“I swear I won’t tell anyone,” Elyan said.

“Neither will I,” Percival added.

“You have my word,” Leon promised.

“Yeah,” Merlin said. His vague response was excusable, considering he had known Gwaine was of noble heritage for a long time, and had told no one.

“Okay,” Gwaine said. He trusted them all with such ease that it surprised him. He had never imagined that he could trust so many before he had come to Camelot. They all really were his friends, Gwaine realized. Not just coworkers he was close to.

“You’re like the opposite of Lancelot,” Merlin said, amused by a sudden realization. “He was knighted before they realized he wasn’t noble, and you were knighted before they realized that you were.”

“Figures. He was very different from me in a lot of ways,” Gwaine agreed. “And he’d make a far better noble.”

“Yeah...” Merlin said.

“Well, if that’s all, I’ll be leaving now,” Gwaine said.

Arthur nodded. “All right. But come back later. We have some catching up to do,  _ cousin _ .”

Gwaine made a face at him as he left the room, the others following him out.

“I guess it had to come out sometime,” he muttered to Merlin, once out of earshot of the others.

“At least it didn’t go too badly. Things won’t change much,” Merlin said.

“Yeah, except they will all make jokes so obvious it will be a wonder if the other knights don’t suspect something, and they’ll certainly tease me when we’re alone. Arthur will probably try to be on better terms with me. Did you hear what he said? About catching up? Like I would tell him anything more than what I’d already be willing to tell him now that he knows we’re related? Can’t imagine what we would talk about. Still, there are worse nobles to be related to.”

“Like Agravaine,” Merlin said distastefully. “I would talk to Arthur about not telling him.”

Gwaine scowled. “I didn’t think about that. He seems kind of shady, right? Can’t believe he’s also my uncle. You’re right. I guess that’s one thing we can talk about during our little family meeting.”

* * *

 

Gwaine entered the king’s private dining room that evening. Arthur and Guinevere were already there, with food laid out across the square table.

“I hope you don’t mind, I told my wife,” Arthur said, as Gwaine pulled out the chair across from Gwen to sit.

He did mind, but it was more the principle of the matter. If Arthur had asked him to tell her, or even just informed Gwaine that he was going to do so, he would have been more than fine with that. As it was, he felt fairly irritated, but not wanting to offend Gwen, who was in no way at fault, he didn’t let it show.

“I forgot to tell you, but I figured you knew I would. And since you thought it was perfectly okay to not tell me important things, I thought it would be good.”

Internally, Gwaine sighed. He knew Arthur had reason to be upset, but this seemed extraordinarily petty. Even Gwen looked a little tired by his comment. He had clearly been holding a lot of feelings in early, in front of the knights.

“What’s this about, Arthur?” Gwaine asked. Technically, as a knight, he needed to use some sort of title to address his king, but since Arthur seemed so insistent on focusing on their familial relation and Gwaine was hardly known for his propriety at the best of times, he couldn’t care less. “Do you want me to admit that I was wrong to hide it from you? Because then sure. I shouldn’t have done that. But it was part of a secret that I wanted to keep for my own reasons that had nothing to do with you. Aren’t you the one who’s all about how actions matter more than blood? If you want to yell at me, fight me, or whatever, fine. But even I know that dinners are a time where people at least pretend to be civil with each other. If you have something you want to say, just spit it out now instead of this indirect anger thing you’re doing. This meal’s gonna be awkward enough without that.”

Gwen caught Arthur’s eyes before he could respond, and held them for a few moments.

Arthur sighed. “Okay. You’re right. I said I wanted to have this dinner to get to know you better as a cousin, not to be angry.”

“This is a conversation you need to have another time,” Gwen agreed.

“Sounds good to me,” Gwaine said, though nothing had been really resolved, only pushed away for later.

There was a few moments of strained silence.

“So, um, how was your day?” Arthur asked.

“You know,” Gwaine said, “The thing about you being my boss means that you already know what I did professionally, and what happened outside of that is weird to talk about.”

“I’m sure you both have had more than enough of work-related discussion, what with the attack just yesterday, anyway,” Gwen said. “My brother said it’s all any of the knights have talked about since it happened.”

“That’s true,” Gwaine said, ready to latch onto any possible conversation starter that would keep away the awkwardness. “How is Elyan?”

“Mostly fine. There was one deep cut, that needed some stitches, but he’ll be fine.”

“Good.” Having already seen Elyan just a few hours earlier, up and walking around, Gwaine knew that nothing so serious had happened, but he hadn’t known the details. With nothing better to say, Gwaine said, “He’s had worse, I suppose.”

“Yeah... I worry sometimes. He’s older than me, but as the more responsible of the two, in a way it feels like he’s the younger sibling and I need to watch out for him.”

“He is pretty protective of you though,” Arthur said.

“He is. Do you have any siblings, Gwaine?”

Gwen was perfect royalty, Gwaine thought. Somehow, using Arthur’s terrible conversation starter, she had eased the tensions, then smoothly swung them around to the subject that all of them knew was the main point of the meeting.

“Yes,” he said, feeling he owed it to both of them to tell them the truth, instead of changing the subject after a brief and vague response as he normally would. He didn’t have anything to hide anymore, anyway. “Two younger brothers—half-brothers, from my mom’s side, so no relation to you. Gareth and Gaheris. Haven’t seen any of them in a while though.”

“Oh?” Gwen asked.

“Nothing dramatic. Just, you know. Time and distance.”

“Did you ever meet my mother?” Arthur asked suddenly, as if he had been waiting the whole evening for the chance to bring up the question.

“What?”

“Your father was obviously close to my mother. Why else would he duel my father after her death? And you’re older than me.”

“Oh...” Gwaine realized that he now knew why Arthur had been so bitter about him not saying who his father was. Arthur knew very little of his mother, which Gwaine knew was one of the major holds Agravaine had on him. If he thought Gwaine knew anything about her, no wonder Arthur was angry that he kept their relation from him. Speaking in a tone a few shades softer, he said, “I barely remember my own father. Only vague impressions. I was three when our parents died.”

“Somehow... I assumed you were older.”

“I’ll ask my mom? If she’s seen your mother. Next time we talk,” Gwaine said. “But she probably hasn’t. My dad’s side of the family really hated her, I’m not exaggerating. Like, you know what all the conservatives think of you marrying Gwen.”

“Thank you,” Arthur said quietly.

Remembering Merlin’s comment from earlier, Gwaine said, “You promised not to tell anyone. And I know you keep your word, mostly, but could you not tell Agravaine?”

“Even though he’s our uncle?”

“I don’t think he knows who I am, but I never got along with that side of my family, and I would prefer he doesn’t know. I know you disagree, but I don’t entirely trust him either.”

“He’s been nothing but good for this kingdom, Gwaine.”

“He hasn’t earned my respect like you have. It’s not specifically him I don’t want to know, but I figured if you broke your promise to tell Guinevere here, you’d have reason to do the same to him. Not that I have any objections to you knowing, Gwen.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” she said.

“If that’s what you want,” Arthur said.

“It is.”

“Tell us more about your mom,” Gwen prodded. Gwaine complied.

It ended up being better than he expected. Most of the awkwardness was gone, and they soon moved on to less emotional topics. He had never really talked to either Gwen nor Arthur casually like this before, but it was nice. Even when he had nothing to say, Arthur and Gwen were good at talking to each other without making him feel left out. Despite his complaints from earlier, Gwaine found himself thinking that if this became a regular thing he wouldn’t mind so much. 

They ended up staying there far longer than Gwaine was sure that any of them had planned. It was only during a lull in the conversation when Arthur stifled a yawn that he realized how late it had gotten.

“Hey, maybe we should go to bed now. Just for Arthur’s sake, here, of course, since he’s so tired,” Gwaine said.

“Just for Arthur, of course,” Gwen echoed, amused. “I’m sure Gwaine and I could go all night.”

“Well, neither of you have to manage a country, do you?”

“I’m not so sure about that. I don’t know about Gwaine, but for me at least...” Gwen said, causing Gwaine to laugh. Dropping her teasing tone, she said, “You do have a point though. It’s pretty late.”

“I better be off then,” Gwaine said, standing up. “Good n—”

He was suddenly interrupted by the loud clamor of the alarms.

Arthur jumped out of his chair, heading to the door with a hand on his gun, groaning as he did so. “What is it this time?”


	2. Chapter 2

 

_ Thunk. _

Later that night, Gwaine absentmindedly tossed the apple in the air, catching it one handed.

_ Thunk. _

There was a lot to think about, while he waited for Merlin. Like that whole thing with Gaius.

_ Thunk. _

The old physician had vanished early in the night, right after Arthur and Agravaine questioned him about his involvement in magic. Or so the rumours claimed.

_ Thunk. _

What he knew was that a car from the royal garage went missing around the same time Gaius left. All the security cameras in the relevant areas had been hacked and shut off beforehand, so nothing could be proven. A book of magic was found in Gaius’s chambers, suggesting he had run away because the accusations were true. That Gaius was guilty of practicing magic and of betraying the king.

_ Thunk. _

But it didn’t make sense to Gwaine. He wouldn’t be too surprised if Gaius  _ was _ doing magic, but he couldn’t believe that Gaius would use it for anything other than to help Arthur and Camelot. He couldn’t imagine Gaius running away if anyone accused him of treachery.

_ Thunk. _

Gwaine would be willing to admit that he did not know Gaius all that well, but he knew that Merlin did, and Merlin believed there was something else going on. And Gwaine trusted Merlin.

_ Thunk. _

And there was another thing. Why would Gaius shut down the security cameras? He must have known that there was enough evidence to show he fled because he was a traitor, even without the footage. It was an extra bit of proof, but not a needed one. Why go through the effort?

_ Thunk. _

The door to Gaius’s rooms swung open. Gwaine turned his head, keeping the apple in his hand. It was Merlin, frowning in confusion. Gwaine tried a smile at him.

“What are you doing in here?” Merlin asked.

“Wasn’t in the mood to be with the other guards.” Gwaine said lightly. Merlin didn’t respond, still looking irritated and suspicious. “And I thought I’d come and see how you were,” he added, his tone sobering.

“I’m busy,” Merlin said shortly, pushing the door further open as an unsubtle hint. He brushed past Gwaine.

“Doing what?” Gwaine asked.

“What do you think?” Setting his bag down, Merlin sat at the table that was covered in books and loose medical things from Gaius’s work and pulled out a tablet.

“Looking for Gaius?”

“He’s not a traitor,” Merlin said, urgent and intense. “I know there’s evidence, but it’s fake. He’s been kidnapped, Gwaine. He might even be dead. I have to do something.” He looked back at his tablet, fingers tapping at the screen.

“Probably don’t need my help then,” Gwaine said with disappointment. Merlin was clear in wanting Gwaine to leave, and it would be better not to stay if he was so unwelcome. He smiled again, to pretend that it was no big deal, preparing to leave. Merlin looked up at him and his eyes softened apologetically.

“Here, do you know what this is?” Merlin held out a dirt-covered finger.

Gwaine shrugged as he stood up, pleased at the opportunity to help. Even if the question seemed a bit odd. “Maybe. Let me see.” He walked to Merlin and brushed his fingers across the other’s thumb to scoop up a bit of the reddish dirt and brought it to his nose. It carried a familiar odor. “That’s iron ore,” he said, puzzled. “Where did you get this?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Merlin said vaguely. “Does it help us?”

“Iron ore’s pretty rare in Camelot,” Gwaine explained, unbothered by Merlin’s lack of answer to his question. “I’ve only seen it once.”

“Where?”

“Um...” He paused, trying to remember the name. “The ridge of Kemeray. They've been hewing iron from rocks there for hundreds of years.”

“I need to go there.”

“I have a car,” Gwaine offered. It wasn’t like Merlin, who rarely left the palace without the king, had a car himself. Though, Gwaine was sure that he could easily steal a car if it came down to it. And he probably had before.

“Okay,” Merlin said. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

Arthur’s palace, and the village that surrounded it, was very old and unusually small for a capital city. With all the danger from attacks, few people stayed there long, but traces of old magic kept it generally intact, along with amazing construction workers and companies. The streets were narrow, far too much so for cars to pass through. The effort it would take to widen them, people had figured for decades, was not worth the reward. Being so small, it didn’t take too long to get from one place to any other place within the walls. So Camelot City (or so it was sometimes called to keep from being confused with Camelot, the country) was largely a pedestrian one, with the occasional bicycle or motorcycle.

Because of this, the garages, where everyone kept their larger vehicles, were outside of the city walls. This made sneaking out far easier, as two people were less noticeable than a car. Once past the walls, the rest was easy; it was Gwaine’s car, after all, and he could take it out whenever he wanted.

He drove quickly, sneaking glances at Merlin’s anxious face. The ride was short but tense and Gwaine was glad when they finally arrived. Gwaine pulled out the flashlight that he always kept in his glove compartment and shined it around. Merlin stooped down to pick up some of the dirt and held it under the light.

“It’s the same,” Merlin confirmed.

“They must be in there,” Gwaine said, shining his light down the entrance to the old mine. He went in, Merlin close behind. They walked hurriedly, scanning from side to side, as if Gaius might be hiding in a corner.

There was a shadowy area on his left, and he looked up just in time to realize that there was an alcove when a large bare-chested man leaped out, roaring. Gwaine jumped out of the way. He dropped his flashlight and charged back at the man, knocking the knife out of the other’s hand. Stopping Gwaine from reaching for his gun, the man fought back. Gwaine blocked his punches, but it wasn’t long before the man shoved him to the ground. He tensed, preparing for another blow, but the man’s face was overcome with surprise, as he suddenly and without warning flew upwards and forwards, falling unconscious on top of Gwaine.

For someone in a land where magic was punishable by death, Merlin could be very obvious with his magic. Did he think that Gwaine wouldn’t question such a convenient and inexplicable thing? Unless, he knew that Gwaine knew.

Merlin shoved the man off of Gwaine, and helped him to his feet.

“Thanks,” Gwaine muttered, and it wasn’t just for the hand up.

“No problem.”

Past a turn in the tunnel, it split into two branches. Gwaine shined his light down each of them, but neither seemed more promising than the other.

“We should split up,” Merlin said.

Gwaine bit back a comment about that being what people in every horror movie did right before they died. He didn’t want to jinx it. Besides, with their respective strength and magic, they were both far more capable of taking down monsters than most horror movie characters. “Okay.”

“If you find him, don’t wait for me.” Merlin left before Gwaine could respond. He shrugged to himself, and went down his own path. The dark confines of the shaft was eerier alone, but Gwaine had been through worse.

Gwaine spotted a flicker of light at the end, and walked faster, praying that he would find Gaius alive there. The tunnel widened into a room. In the center, was Agravaine, leaning over an unconscious Gaius with a dagger at his throat.

“Agravaine!” Gwaine shouted, drawing his uncle’s attention away from Gaius. “It was you! You kidnapped him!”

“What? No!” Agravaine jerked the knife away from Gaius.

“Then what were you doing?” he demanded, pulling out his gun.

“I was, um, seeing if he was still alive.” Agravaine lifted his blade. “See, there’s some condensation from his breath. He’s barely alive.”

“How did you know he was here?” Gwaine said distrustfully.

“I followed you and Merlin. I saw you leave, and I know Merlin cares for Gaius, so I thought you had new information on his whereabouts.”

Gwaine finally lowered his weapon. Though he still did not trust Agravaine, they appeared to be on the same side, for now. “You agree that he’s kidnapped then?”

“Of course he was,” Agravaine said, as if he wasn’t one of the people who had been most insistent that Gaius was a traitor. “We need to get him back to Camelot. Hurry, now. Help me carry him to my car.”

“We need to get Merlin back first,” Gwaine said.

“No!” Agravaine snapped. “I mean... Gaius is very hurt. He might die if we don’t get him back soon.”

“I’ll be quick,” Gwaine said.

“Merlin can use your car to get back. Anyway, I saw the people who took Gaius flee, so he’s safe.”

Which didn’t make sense if Agravaine had arrived after Gwaine and Merlin. There was only one exit to this place and Gwaine had not passed anyone fleeing. And how had Agravaine even passed them in the first place? But Merlin’s first priority would be Gaius, and Gwaine trusted in Merlin’s ability to take care of himself.

“Fine,” he said. He put away his gun, and used one arm to lift up Gaius’s legs. With his other hand, he grabbed his cell phone.

“What are you doing?” Agravaine hissed, as Gwaine typed in some numbers, surprised that he could still get reception.

“Calling the king,” Gwaine responded, as they started walking out of the mineshaft. He tucked the phone between his head and shoulder so he could use both hands to carry Gaius. “He would want to know what happened.”

“This better be important,” Arthur said, over the phone.

“I found Gaius. He’s not a traitor. He’s been captured and hurt,” Gwaine said, cutting off whatever Agravaine was going to say.

“What? Is he alive? Where are you?” Arthur’s tiredness and irritation vanished.

“He’s injured, but alive. We’re at the ridge of Kemeray. We need help.”

“I’m sending ambulance there right now.”

“We’ll be at the entrance.”

“Okay,” Arthur said.

Gwaine shoved the phone back in his pocket and adjusted his grip on Gaius so he could carry him more comfortably with both hands.

“Arthur’s sending an ambulance,” Gwaine told Agravaine. “We’ll get out of here and wait for them.”

“Good thinking,” Agravaine said, though he did not sound very pleased.

The passage down the tunnel seemed far longer than it had on the way in, but finally they reached the outside. Once out, they did not have to wait long for the ambulance.

Gwaine watched as the workers took Gaius into the ambulance, and after he was sure of Gaius’s safety, he slipped back into the old mine, to look for Merlin. Enough time had passed since they parted that Merlin should have been back by now. There was no Gaius for him to find and bring back, no ambulance to wait for, or Agravaine to argue with. It shouldn’t have taken him longer, then, to return to the surface. Unless something was wrong.

Or, Gwaine supposed, as he turned down the path he had not taken before, Merlin’s shaft was much longer than his own. The journey did seem to be taking longer, but the feeling of time passing was so susceptible to emotions and misremembering, he did not know if it could be trusted.

A shout came from much further down, distorted by the confines of the tunnel. Or perhaps it was not a shout, but a command. It sounded too deep to likely be from Merlin. Gwaine started running, hoping to get there in time. The echo of a high pitched scream quickly followed, and Gwaine thought he could see some light. Now that he was close, he pointed his flashlight down and towards himself, so he could see where his feet were stepping without giving himself away. He had to slow down, to not trip over the rocks in the limited light, but that caused the noise he made to lessen, so it wasn’t entirely an inconvenience.

After the echoes died, there was silence for a moment, then the murmur of someone speaking. Gwaine could not make out the words, but the tone was not aggressive.

“You have magic!” Merlin exclaimed, loudly enough for Gwaine to understand.

Another person, probably the same as the first, spoke again, and now Gwaine was close enough to make out the words. “I understand how you feel. I too have had magic my whole life.”

Gwaine stopped at the place where the shaft led to a room. There was a curve in the wall that Gwaine could stand in, and be hidden from view to anyone in that room. Before he went there, he peaked into the room, and saw Merlin and some other bald man. Morgana’s body lay on the floor to the side. It was her who was behind it all, then. Not that it was any huge surprise. The bald man looked similar to the one who had attacked him in the tunnel with Merlin, but he didn’t appear to have any intention of harming Merlin, and they were talking peacefully.

Still, because second-long glances were hardly the best judge of character, Gwaine slipped into the curve of the wall to listen and jump in if anything happened.

“And that has brought me no end of trouble,” the man had been saying. “I’ve been shunned, persecuted, even hunted down, everywhere I go. I have to hide myself, and who I am, or risk death. These countries with their laws and discriminatory views have hurt me in countless ways. Yet, I understand your hopes, Emrys. I, and others like me, want the peace that you are trying to build. We stand with you, and would die for that vision you have.”

Gwaine didn’t know the context for this, and couldn’t imagine what had caused the man’s speech, but he did know that Merlin had magic, and could guess many of the consequences he had to deal with for that. He had never understood why Merlin would learn magic in such a dangerous place, or if he had known magic before coming to Camelot, why he came at all. But from this, it made it sound like Merlin was born with magic (which from what Gwaine knew in his travels to lands where the banning of magic was less harshly followed, was extremely rare) and that he had come to Camelot to bring magic back legally. Which meant that Merlin was both a lot more manipulative and self-sacrificing than Gwaine had imagined.

It was one thing to practice a bit of magic for the defense of yourself, your friends, king, and people. At this point, Arthur was close enough to Merlin that Gwaine was certain he could never execute him, and would probably eventually get over it. But to come to somehow change the law, and manipulate himself into the position where he could influence the king was something Arthur would never forgive Merlin for, even if he didn’t kill him. That would be a lie, less of safety, but for self-gain.

Yet Gwaine knew that if magic was not considered evil, if magic and technology were allowed, for the first time in history, to flourish alongside each other, astonishing advances and improvements could happen. He knew that if magic was not banned, persecuted people like the druids, whose culture was based off magic, and those born with it, would not have to live their lives in fear. Added to everyone that could be saved with proper defense against dangerous magical beings (human or otherwise), the legalization and acceptance of magic had such great potential to improve life. This, Gwaine imagined, was what Merlin dreamed of, not selfish power for himself like Uther had been paranoid of sorcerers wanting.

“I...” Merlin sounded stunned, but he quickly recovered himself. “Thank you. For saving me from Morgana. I appreciate your support.”

“Of course. We do not have the power that you do, but we stand with you.”

Gwaine didn’t want to eavesdrop on this conversation, and everything seemed to be going fine, so he stepped out into the cavern that they were in.

“Are you okay, Merlin?” he asked.

“Who are you?” the bald man demanded, pointing his staff threateningly at Gwaine.

“Don’t, he’s good,” Merlin said, though he stared at Gwaine with fear. The man lowered his staff. “How much did you hear?” he said, trying very hard to sound casual.

“Enough,” Gwaine said. “But I already knew. This isn’t the best time for a conversation though.”

“What do you mean you already...?” Merlin started, but he shook his head. “No, you’re right. Did you find Gaius?”

“He’s alive, but hurt. They’ve got an ambulance to take him back to the city.”

“We need to get back then.”

“I must stay behind,” the bald man said. “I cannot come out of this mine if the king’s men are at the entrance.”

“What about Morgana?” Gwaine nodded at the unconscious body.

“I will take care of her,” the man said.

“Can we trust him?” Gwaine asked Merlin.

“Yes. Thank you, Alator. I hope to see you again.”

“Perhaps,” Alator said, bowing slightly.

“There’s something else,” Gwaine said, as he and Merlin went back, towards the entrance. “When I found Gaius, Agravaine was there. I saw him bending over Gaius, who was unconscious, with a knife in his hand. When he saw me, he claimed to be checking to see if he was alive, but... It’s suspicious. I don’t trust him.”

“I don’t either,” Merlin muttered darkly. “You didn’t leave Gaius alone with him, did you?”

“Of course not. I waited till the ambulance got there before going to find you. They should have all left by now. Gaius, he’s in a bad shape, but they said he’ll probably be fine. And Arthur knows that he wasn’t a traitor now, so I think everything will turn out well.”

“Good,” Merlin said.

* * *

 

That night was chaotic, with Gaius being alive, and not a traitor. Gwaine had to tell Arthur and write a report about what happened in the mine, leaving out all the stuff about Merlin and the bald man, Alator, and some of his more suspicious thoughts about Agravaine. He didn’t trust their uncle, but now did not seem the best time to bring it up with the king.

Afterwards, Gwaine went to visit Gaius in the infirmary. There wasn’t much he could do to help, not being trained in medicine, but Merlin looked like he needed a little company. It was disconcerting seeing Gaius being attended on by others, when usually, it was the other way around. When everything had settled down, and Merlin promised to get some rest soon, Gwaine finally made his way into his bed and fell asleep.

He continued his usual routine the next day as best he could, while Gaius healed. In the evening, Merlin approached him nervously and asked to talk privately. This conversation had been coming, Gwaine knew, and it was only that Merlin was so busy between worrying over Gaius and doing his job for Arthur that it had not come sooner.

They went to Merlin’s room, where they could talk uninterrupted, as Gaius was still in the infirmary and Arthur had given Merlin the rest of the day off as a sort of apology for not believing him about Gaius. It had been a while since Gwaine had been in this room, he noticed. In fact, the last time might have been that morning after the bar fight in which he had gotten injured accidentally saving the crown prince and first met Merlin. Despite the years that had gone by since then, little had changed in the room.

“You want to talk about the magic, right?” Gwaine asked, not one for stalling a conversation.

“Uh, yes. You said you already knew?” Merlin sounded scared, though he hid it well. That was something Gwaine never wanted to make Merlin feel, so he chose his words carefully.

“You know that I’ve travelled a lot before I came here. Not everywhere in the world has the same attitude towards magic as here. Sure, it’s illegal globally, but there are places where the law is lax and it is more commonly accepted. Especially non-Western people. They have different types of magic that aren’t always recognized as such by westerners, and therefore are practiced unimpeded. Because it’s mostly the Global Council that enforces the anti-magic in those places. My point is, that I know more than most people in this country about what to look for, and you aren’t that subtle.”

“But you didn’t tell anyone,” Merlin said.

“I don’t tell people’s secret without permission. ‘Sides you’re doing more good than harm.”

“How can you know that? How do you know that I’m not secretly evil, because all magic users are supposed to be?” Despite the relief on Merlin’s face, he seemed to want to try to find some hole in Gwaine’s trust, as if afraid to accept it otherwise.

“I know you,” Gwaine said. “You’re a good person. You believed in Arthur so strongly, that even I gave him a chance. You love Camelot and the people in it, and I know that you would never do anything to harm it. And like I said, with my experiences outside of this country, I’ve learned that magic isn’t inherently evil. My mother knew some magic too.”

Merlin stared at him for a long time, as if trying to find someway this could possibly backfire on him. Gwaine sat there, not knowing what he could do or say to make the trust easier.

“Wait, but if you figured it out, then could others too?” Merlin said suddenly.

“I’m not saying that there’s no way anyone else couldn’t, but I don’t think so. Most people who know you well trust you. It would take hard proof for them to reconcile the thought of you, who are thought to be good, with magic, which is thought to be evil. They won’t seriously consider it, because they don’t want it to be true, because that would mean that they are wrong about one of those things. People can be amazing at denial.”

“That’s true...”

“Still, you can be pretty obvious. Might wanna work on subtlety,” Gwaine said, grinning. “Like that man in the cave? You didn’t even have an attempt at a cover-up. Not that I’m not grateful. Anyway, I was wondering, why did the other guy call you that thing, um Em-something?”

“Emrys.” Merlin hesitated. “It’s a long story.”

That usually was code for ‘I don’t want to tell you.’ “Okay,” Gwaine said. He was going to say something about always being there for Merlin, if he ever needed someone to talk to or help from someone who knew about his magic, and ending the conversation, but Merlin seemed to change his mind.

“I, well, it sounds kind of... weird, I guess.”

“Merlin, this is Camelot. When is something not weird?”

“Yeah, but in a self-centered sort of way. The druids have a prophecy about me. Or, not just the druids, but it’s mostly from them because there aren’t many who practice that kind of magic around here. I’m called Emrys in them. So those who know of me from the prophecies call me Emrys. And it’s like my sorcerer name. So I can be known without revealing my true identity.”

“That sounds a lot more important than I thought. What’s the prophecy about?” Gwaine asked, overcome with curiosity.

“Me and Arthur. I’m supposed to protect him and lead him to a new age, of a free and united Britain.”

“Is that why you came to Camelot? I always wondered why...”

“No. Yes. It was destined, so probably, but I didn’t know that it was the reason when I first got here.”

“Then why did you? Surely there are better places to go than  _ Camelot? _ ”

“My mom knew Gaius. She thought he could teach me to control my magic, because I was pretty bad at that.”

“So Gaius knows.” Not that Gwaine had ever thought differently. “Does Arthur?”

Merlin shook his head. “I don’t know how I would tell him so he wouldn’t hate and distrust me.”

“Yeah... That would be hard. Am I bothering you with all of these questions?”

“After all this time of not telling anyone it’s absolutely the worst to have someone to finally talk about it with,” Merlin said sarcastically. 

Gwaine snorted.

“It’s nice to be able to talk to you about it,” Merlin admitted, smiling slightly. “Everyone else who knows is either Gaius, dead, or I have little contact with them.”

“That makes sense,” Gwaine said softly.

“Lancelot knew,” Merlin said. “He saw me using magic, back when we barely knew each other, before he was a knight. But he never told anyone.”

Gwaine looked down. They both missed Lancelot, but Merlin had lost something more than Gwaine had known. He couldn’t imagine how lonely Merlin must feel after his death, with no one else near his age knowing his secret. “I won’t either,” Gwaine said, since there was nothing else he could say.

“I know.” After a pause, Merlin said, “Do you think anyone else would react this well if I told them about my magic? I mean, first Lancelot, then you, the knights who know, are both are fine with it. Is my caution making me underestimate the response?”

“I don’t think anybody who knows you well would kill you. I couldn’t guess how much better than that it will be though. But Lancelot and I, we don’t really come from here, and the anti-magic sentiments aren’t quite as strong elsewhere. I don’t know about Lancelot, but Cornwallis, where I grew up, holds a bit of a grudge against Uther for the whole Igraine dying thing, so I was raised learning that he and his policies sucked. Plus I’m more lax about things than most knights, and Lancelot is pure and good in a way few are, so we’re hardly the best examples of the general Camelot populace. But I also think that your friends are generally great people, and would at least hear you out. It’s hard to say for sure.”

“Yeah,” Merlin said. “Sometimes I think that I’ve kept it a secret for so long that I can’t imagine it not being a secret. Like it being a secret has become a part of me. I always thought that if Arthur made magic legal, then I would tell him, but picturing that time, I still can’t figure out how I’d tell him. I’d just have less excuses not to.”

“In a way, I felt that about my noble blood. I didn’t have any good reasons, really, to not tell anyone, but I didn’t want to go through the effort of telling anyone either. But then it came out anyway, as secrets often do. My advice is to not hold onto it longer than you have to. It won’t be an easy thing to say no matter what. For me, it ended up not mattering much that I didn’t control how it got out, but for you it could.”

“Yes. I suppose if that time comes, I will talk to Gaius and you, about how best to do it.”

“Yeah.” There was a moment’s pause in the conversation. “I was wondering, do you know that old wizard guy, Dragoon? Because he’s been in the castle a few times, and the last time I saw him, he hinted he knew who I really was, which at the time only you had any idea.”

“Err...” Merlin said, and something about those familiar blue eyes clicked in Gwaine’s brain.

“Wait a second!” he exclaimed, shocked realization hitting him. “That was... no way! That was you!”

“I’m really sorry,” Merlin offered guiltily.

“You threw me with your magic!”

“I was in a hurry and you were in the way. I am sorry though.”

“You insulted all of us!”

“Well...”

Gwaine started laughing. “It all makes sense now! But how did you do it? Some kind of aging spell? Did  _ you _ kill Uther and bewitch Arthur to love Gwen?”

“Of course not!” Merlin said, offended. “I was trying to save Uther, but someone else, probably Morgana, put a spell on him to reverse the effects of any magic on him. So the healing magic backfired and killed him. And Gwen and Arthur already loved each other, but Morgana tried to make it seem like Gwen spelled Arthur to do so. They imprisoned Gwen, so to save her, I had to get caught putting the spell bag under Arthur’s pillow, and take the blame. It was an aging spell though.”

“Oh. I figured you would have a good explanation for those things. It sounds very exciting. You’ll have to tell me about all the times you’ve saved Camelot.”

“You probably wouldn’t like it, all the times I made you guys think  _ you _ saved the day when it was really me.”

Gwaine snorted. “I’m sure my ego can take it. Or just tell me about stuff before I came. I’d bet that Arthur ends up looking pretty foolish in a lot of those.”

“He does,” Merlin said laughing a little. “But also he also sometimes comes off better than you would expect.”

“I don’t know,” Gwaine said. “He’s proved himself to be worthy of those high praises you sing of him before. I just like teasing him.”

“Yeah. But maybe another time. I’m sure we both have stuff we need to do by now.”

Gwaine looked at the clock, which displayed a time much later than he thought it would be. “Oh, that’s true. I better get going. Another time, then. I’ll hold you to that.”

And he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So some explanation for the history of this universe. I imagine that industrialization and colonization happen more or less as they do in our world. Western people probably don’t always recognize other civilizations’ magic as legitimate, and when they do, they see it as simple and crude, even though it’s really not. They use it to reinforce the idea that the places they colonize are “primitive.”  
> Magic was perfectly legal and encouraged during the 19th century, so Gwaine thinking that if it was legalized, it would be the first time that magic and technology flourished together isn’t entirely true. But around the beginning of the 1900s, there were some world-wide wars (though they didn’t happen exactly the same way ours did) which really decreased the popularity of magic because it caused so much destruction. After the last World War, the Global Council (which is sort of like the UN except more powerful) was created and discouraged the use of magic throughout the world. Anti-magic sentiments spread, causing hate crimes, discrimination, etc. against all the people that had it, even in countries where it was still legal.  
> Camelot was important enough to be liked but small enough to not be feared, so nobody really made them stop having magic flourish there. By the time Uther came into power, the Global Council and many of his own citizens were putting pressure on him to outlaw magic or to at least limit it. For a while, he resisted, at least in part because he liked the power it gave him. After Igraine died, he outlawed magic for the reasons in the show, but also because the world was getting less tolerant towards it. He pushed the Global Council into making it illegal to practice magic anywhere in the world.   
> As Gwaine mentions, this isn’t super effective practically, because a lot of people and cultures don’t want to comply with it and the Global Council only has so much reach. Plus not everything is considered to be “real” magic by a western standard, so some of that slips past the radar. But still, it’s not good for any magic user, and because having the authority to regulate magic worldwide gives the Global Council (which is pretty western-based) so much more powerful, it’s not really good for most other countries in general. There are many groups that fight against it, violently and peacefully, big and small, all over the world.  
> Fantasy books are probably way less popular and there’s no way that anything like Harry Potter could exist because it shows magic in a good/neutral light. Horror movies on the other hand, would be based more in fact, and are totally acceptable because everything supernatural is evil. Though I doubt that they would be portrayed quite the same way they are in this world, because most of the stuff could actually happen in that world.  
> Because the world is even more connected and travel is easier and stuff than in canon time, so there’s no way that as many of the cast are going to be white as they were in the show. There is racism though, probably about the same levels as today.  
> I have a lot of headcanons about this, but I think I’ll stop here because this is long enough.


End file.
